


Tiamat: Rise in Shadow

by Crypterion_Moon



Series: The Shadows of God [4]
Category: DCU (Comics), Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Angst, Blood and Gore, Blood and Violence, Character Death, Dark, Dark Fantasy, Dark Past, Incubus Tim, Multi, Rituals, Shapeshifting, Supernatural Elements, creepy Tim
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-11
Updated: 2019-02-02
Packaged: 2019-03-03 12:40:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13341468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crypterion_Moon/pseuds/Crypterion_Moon
Summary: "Something so broken can never be fixed, it can only become something else"Tim is not Tim any more, not Robin, not a Wayne, not really Drake, not really human. Not any more. He is Tiamat, broken by a demon, and remade into a creature of Shadow. For now a fledgling, he already possess more power he can dream of and the darker side of him grows and helps him forget, helps him feel free.Empty but free, for now, his old life will catch up with him and when that happens, can he truly remain indifferent or become something more than the creature he is. The trial comes and he will discover that becoming lost in a new world is going to be his redemption and that of Jason's.Whenever Jason manages to stop running from his feelings and Tim stops running from his humanity, that is.





	1. Chapter 1

Movement beside him, the bed suddenly bereft of a presence shifted Tim awake. Far too early for his taste. He cracked open one lazy eye and saw the light seeping through. He promptly shut it again. Any point in the day was too early for Tim, he had never claimed to be a morning person. Unluckily, the person next to him was and work was very important for humans in this society. The sounds of pants, shirts being pulled on, belt buckles being done and a clear thud of the hone on the dresser reached his ears, it felt refreshing to hear such domestic sounds. To not work and earn your living is a failure in the eyes of your mother and father, to not contribute to society is to be a burden. Nothing to do with Tim though, he planned to laze around in the stranger's bed for while longer. At least until night falls again. He rolled over on his side, his arms curled up at his chest and facing the wall, he muttered something unintelligible, which comes out in a soft groan. The bed dipped again, this time Tim could feel lips trailing and kissing their way down his body, from his curled shoulder along each rib, the blanket that covered the lower half of his body was lifted as the man planted a few soft, lingering pecks on his hip.

“Morning beautiful.”

Tim let out a soft moan, just to tease, “Mmmm, don't you have work today?”

“I wish I didn't.”

Tim smirked, his body curled up slightly more, raising his hips slightly higher for some more kisses which his partner for the night happily obliged, his hands stroking along his legs and slipping in between Tim's pale thighs.

“Will I see you again sometime?”

Tim hummed with approval, “Same place after dark.”

“Okay,” the man grinned nibbling playfully at Tim's ear, “I'll see you soon.”

Tim listened to the rustling of clothes, and the closet. He heard the man leave the room and pick up his keys for the bowl in the hallway, and the door clicked shut.  
He thought about letting himself turn a bit, just some black smoke so he could return without having to physically get up and walk, his body ached deliciously though. Last night was fun and satisfying in one go, though the man was far too tender for his comfort. The idea was that it would just be a once off, non-committal thing where the two of them could have fun but it seemed more like this guy was looking for something more but wasn't aware of it. Tim wriggled about under the covers and took in the scent that clung to the bedsheets, the scent of another human was so addictive. Such a sweet man but rather desperate and lonely, it would be a shame to kill him, even by accident.

 

The smell and presence of humans, was almost too much in the small space that was this seedy club, and Tim loved it. He could taste the energy flowing and permeating the air. His hunting place, his one stop for a bit of fun and food.  
The hip-hop trance mix that pulsed around the club was a bit on the obnoxious side but not totally intolerable, the laser light that swirled around the floor was quite irritating so he'd settled himself on the other end of the place where a warm light filled the bar and lounge area still in view of the dancefloor. If it wasn't such a popular place with good choices, he wouldn't even bother coming here.  
Sitting at the bar, Tim glanced over each face, searching for an acceptable companion for the night. As his eyes scoured over each face, they would sometimes meet with another and often, they would stare and blush. Unable to tear their eyes away, Tim could send them the most devilish look and they'd quickly hide or look away in embarrassment. He'd know when they looked back at him when they thought he'd turned his gaze. People were so easily tempted even when he wasn't trying. Look in their direction in a certain way and it's hook, line and sinker.  
It was so much fun fooling around with them, especially the dumb ones but only a few were worthwhile.  
And tonight, the pretty lady in with the shiny jacket should make a nice meal.

Turns out she was quite well off, her apartment was well decorated and nothing displayed seemed to be on the fake or cheap side. A few glances around and it was apparent that she was actually a finance worker of a company, and not a very honest one at that, but at that moment, Tim really couldn't care less.  
She was healthy, energetic and indeed very full of life...as well as herself. Stupid woman, vain and overestimating, her body screamed for attention, for men to worship her because she deserved it. She'd put down and humiliated a lot of people for her own gain. Tim had avoid looking any further or he'd be turned off by such a rotten soul. For now, he was hungry.  
One wild night proved fun though it left the woman almost completely drained but he always made sure not to let that happen, Tim was careful about that. The consequences weren't pretty.  
What he wasn't prepared for was the woman talking and making noises in her sleep, which irritated Tim from sleeping that he had to leave the apartment complex. He slipped out through the window, leathery wings unfurling and soared noiselessly up towards the sky. Tendrils of black wispy smoke slithered out from beneath his skin and around his body, solidifying and materializing as clothing, conveniently. He smirked and he continued to soar over the city before settling on one of the buildings that had a nice domed tower to it, perfect for a resting place. It was annoying having to leave so soon. At least it was a beautiful moon night.  
His breath ghosted in the chill air which blew softly across his skin as Tim laid down on the metal. He stared up at the and watched the city moving and breathing angrily down below, Gotham was always such a miserable place. The embodiment of filth, probably no better than the city of Sodom though that may be exaggerating. It had a protector after all. He wasn't sure if it was the city that made Batman that grim icon or the other way around. Perhaps it was that vicious cycle. Tim could remember the way Bruce moved, silent and imposing, promptly followed by a young boy in yellow, green and red, laughing at the world. With no pants.  
Tim smiled wryly. Thinking of Batman and Robin brought back so many memories, the good and bad, they both made his heart ache, what's left of it any way.  
He turned over and tucked his wing against himself. He'll sleep them away, just for a little while before he moves on.

 

There's blood on his hands, on his face, in his mouth. Red all around him, pooling at his feet. But he isn't looking, it's his hands he can't tear his eyes away from. Tim's hand, didn't look like a human's any more. The fingers were long and protruding from them were long black claws and they were all red, saturated in warm liquid. It comforted him and horrified him at the same time, like coming out of a high. Not his blood, he looked up. Across from him were corpses, the dead, cooling bodies of his friends, the league and Dick?! Bruce!! Damian...oh god oh god, who did this? He looked around and saw no one, no one else but him and...Jason.  
But the man wasn't wearing a mad deranged smile like he remembered once, it was a look of horror and pure fear. His hands were clean.  
Why was Jason looking at him like that?  
Suddenly, the Red Hood turned away and walked, Tim tried to get up and follow but he was stuck, unable to move. He called out to Jason.

“You monster.” 

Tim woke up to the cool air rapidly warming as the sun rose up over the cityline. Damn, he didn't think he'd sleep the whole night away, it was dawn and he wasn't prepared to take on the full glare of the sun. He was lucky he didn't run into the bat, or the bird for that matter. That would be beyond awkward. He slinked away under the cover of the sun's shadow. He settled down again in his favourite spot, fatigue taking over again. He cursed internally at that damn dream, it always deprived him of rest no matter how long he tried to sleep. He suspected the longer he was in it, the worse it would make him feel and right now, he felt like he hadn't slept in three days. It reminded him so much of his sleepless vigilante days it was almost funny, almost.

“Tiamat.”

A voice whispered to him where he hid, sheltered from the sights of passers-by, high behind the golems of Gotham. Tim stirred from his curled sleep, listening to the multitudes of voices hissing and sighing inaudibly in the background. The space before him twisted and warped with dark energy. Then a figure stepped out from the swirling mass and onto the stone. Greeting Tim with a wide, crooked smile.

“Peter.” The boy responded with a half giggle, his coal black, tight suit rippled with his body. 

“Still fooling around? I know you were overly serious before but this takes the cake.”

Tim snorted with contempt, he almost wished he'd ignored the sly bastard but he wasn't bothered with moving. Instead he let his tail answer for him, swatting at Peter with an impatient flick. Of course, it did nothing since he was only a mirage and it passed through his wispy form like it was just smoke, distorting Peter's image only briefly before it settled back in place.

“Someone's moody today.”

“Did you call just to annoy me?”

Peter sat down beside a curled up Tim and reached over, brushing stray strands of hair from his face. As much of an illusion as it was, the boy still felt very real and right there, though his touch felt more like breaths than anything physical.

“You've been seeking out human comfort frequently as of late, have the nightmares returned?”

“...They have always been there, sometimes they're not as bad but then they get louder, clearer, like I'm living it all over again. It happened again last night, when I left early.”

Peter said nothing for a long time, the sound of their breaths drowned out in the city's hum. Tim considered sleeping right here while he could feel Peter's presence. He could ask him to stay for a while while he rested but seeing as he wasn't truly here in the flesh, no doubt he was occupied. It pained Tim to acknowledge how much he needed contact, companionship to chase those damn nightmares away. He felt weak and helpless against himself, he could feel that part of him mocking at him for such dependency, letting it slowly eat him away.  
It was all his fault of course, your fault your failure murderer murderer demon monster, Jason can't even look at you now, not even Alfred.  
Tim gasped in shock, clutching at his breast in pain. Peter still at his side reacted accordingly prying Tim's fingers from his chest and holding them.

“Stop, don't let it get to you again. Come on, Tim, stay with me.”  
Can't here, can't see, only the thing inside trying to claw it's way back out, take over again. Your fault their fault unwanted, they abandoned you, it's only natural to make them pay, make you pay, watch the world burn, let's do it.

Look what they did to you.

“Look at me!”

Tim was gasping for air, suddenly seeing Peter again. He wasn't aware of the tears in his eyes. All that act, all those disgusting nights with endless streams of face, voices, praises but he wasn't beautiful. He was damned. Trying to claw his way out of hell.

Peter looked at him with eyes that mirrored his, his suffering, Tim's own pain, they all had suffered, had to so they could be together this way, but he, she told him he wasn't ready yet. When?

Peter leaned down and placed a tender kiss on his lips, breathing for a minute, “Something is coming your way, Tim, and it's nearly your time.”

Tim sat up legs bent behind him as he searched for meaning behind those words, Peter's rust coloured eyes gave nothing away, “I don't understand.”

“Thing's are going to change.” 

Tim dipped his gaze, completely losing the mask and being that confused, over-analysing boy he once was, serious and curious all at once. Robin, not Robin. Peter smiled a little sad smile and began to fade from sight, his ghost hands still caressing Tim's face, “I hope for the better,” Tim said.

“We all do.” 

 

Tim's head was ringing, and it was damn annoying as well as slightly painful. It took a whole lot of effort and will to just open his eyes with his whole body screaming at him for the abuse. Not the first time, he told himself, had worse happen to him on Batman's watch. And then he realized there was a possibility he wasn't alone. His eyes shot open and he lifted his head enough to give the surrounding area a quick scan around before dropping back to the ground, face first of course. He felt as if he got kicked in the head by a horse, which was a close enough comparison given how hard he was hit.  
Fortunately it seemed like the Blight Hounds didn't seem to make it through or were dropped off elsewhere, hopefully somewhere far away, like a different dimension. He was about to seduce and kill a young man who would later become a gang leader as he'd been told by Oriviane, one of the oracles. Though it had nothing to do with Tim or the wraiths what his destiny would have been, his name was listed. He would die sooner or later.  
It would have just been another night of ending someone's life with pleasure until they were suddenly ambushed by those damned monsters. Ambushes weren't all that unusual though it served to be a pain in the ass having to kill his targets before they ran off. Tim was always prepared for these moments and it wouldn't have been a problem if his psyche as well as his powers didn't decide to fluctuate right at that moment. It earned him a swat to the face from one of their malformed paws, and they were strong, if not smart.

“Damn, I hope they didn't scratch me,” Tim grunted, as his fingers came away wet with blood. 

He glanced at his surroundings, a thick but not unruly gathering of trees blocked much of Tim's field of vision like a forest, preventing him from seeing too much farther, but he could hear a the low drone of activity, human activity just beyond the edge of the spot where he stood. Tim followed the sounds, noting how oddly neat these trees were spaced almost as if...he reached the end to find wide open spaces filled with people either picnicking, strolling or playing, and beyond that was a city. Its buildings jutting up unpleasantly over the foliage. His portal navigation had landed him in the middle of a park in god knows where, again. In fairness, it was a stressful moment, trying to open up a door while fending of mutant mutts and no doubt, they must've been scattered over other realms. He really needed to get the hang of this before it sent him into somewhere much more unpleasant.

Strangely, as he kept passing through the thick growth of trees he could hear the sounds of civilization cars and voices, not too far away and as it turned out, he’d reached the edge of what turned out to be a reserved patch of forest. Now he was staring from under the shade, normal civilians passing by going about their business. At least he was sure he wasn’t on some god-forsaken hell. He was about to move forward when a sudden explosion erupted about fifty meters away. He flinched back into the cover and watched intently.  
Through the throngs of screaming people, a figure emerged from the wreckage, large and imposing and an awfully familiar at that. It was Bane. Still duped up on Venom.

“Come out you spineless cowards, come out and face Bane!”

Good lord he was obnoxious as ever. Watching him thrash about like a child throwing a tantrum was almost comical. He took out a substantial chunk of the cement ground throwing it about, thankfully most of the crowds had retreated but he was posing a serious threat to bystanders. For now, it seemed that the only damage he was intent on doing was to the surrounding inanimate objects, smashing to be exact, unimpressive really. Then the drugged up criminal fixes his gaze on some unfortunate man on his way to work. Tim grinned. Perfect, he had some stress to work off.  
Just when he had taken a step out, suddenly Bane was ambushed. Teenagers sporting colourful sets of powers and abilities. One of them, a green skinned boy morphed into a bull charging Bane relentlessly and recklessly. A young blond woman with a bow joined in, notching and releasing arrows effortlessly with near perfect aim. The flashy one dashed in to deliver a series of, flimsy punches. When it comes to Bane, nothing short of a strong punch will affect him, but somehow, Tim could feel that was merely to add to the distraction, just as predictable in his technique as always, no matter what version of him was out there. Smart but predictable. Now he could never understand why Bruce found him challenging  
Tim stopped, his gaze snapping aside. Something bigger was coming his way. 

As soon as the thought passed, a large black and blue jean mass came flying in, crashing into Bane with a loud thump and crack that definitely was the sound of a few broken bones. The villain was sent flying back from the impact while the recent addition to the fray watched with a triumphant expression, back straight, floating in the air with the symbol on his chest on display. A Super.  
The sight of the S brought memories, slamming back into Tim.

“Hey Broody.”

Kon smiling as he hovered over him making terrible jokes about his height, his personality being not as colourful as his costume. Fighting together with their teammates against extraterrestrial terrorists. 

“You know he doesn’t mean that.”

Kon comforting him over his arguments and fights with Bruce and Jason. Hearing Kon’s voice beg him to come home again and again until he couldn’t hear him any more. And when he finally opened his eyes, he was holding Kon’s head in his bloody hands.  
Tim doubled over gagging, holding himself steady grasping a thorny vine that grew along the trunk of the tree, his hand so tight around it the thorns pierced skin and blood ran down his palm and the vine.

“Damn it, not now, keep it together...” he fought to keep the memories suppressed. Just then a giant crash spooked him out of the lapse and he looked up in time to see a huge Gorilla in a stupid hat flattening down everything In its way, with a machine gun to match. Following behind were what looked like a few hired goons, of course, why not. Bane always made sure to be stocked up on henchmen and backup.  
This was however turning into a bit of a joke and Tim was getting bored of watching.

“Robin!” A slight figure leaped out of nowhere at the command, unleashing a whole arsenal of batarangs and smoke pellets. The flying pieces of metal successfully took down a portion of the goons while the pellets burst, enveloping the area in thick smoke. No one can see through it accept for Superboy but they had definitely planned this enough not to require visibility. Tim’s suspicions were confirmed when the green shapeshifter charged right into the smoke, audibly knocking out more of the hired guns, both Robin and the archer jointly disabled the remaining men caught in the smoke. Bane could be heard roaring over the commotion, Gorilla sniffed and grunted. Suddenly, Superboy and a girl with a familiar symbol dived in, tackling the two. The team’s hard hitters best suited for tanks like Bane and the Gorilla. Tim guessed they must be this world’s Teen Titans, which meant he had to be careful who he came in contact with.  
After a whole load of punching and kicking, the two villains were finally down, disappointingly enough, how boring. They began discussing something together possibly about whatever mission they were on while the blond with the lasso and the speedster began tying everyone up. Just then the farthest man lying just a meter of where Tim was hiding got up and started sprinting off into the woods.  
Tim watched the man as he made his escape into the darkness, soon noticed to be by the teens, his lips stretched into a sinister grin. He sat back on his haunches, preparing for the chase.

“Let the hunt begin.”

 

“We have a runner,” Nightwing sounded slightly fed up, his tone coloured with annoyance as he watched the last of Bane’s hired gun run of to the woods. No one could blame him, since it’s been a long day and no doubt, going to be a long night for him in Bludhaven, the wicked never sleep. So the team started off after him as the heavy hands came to take the criminals away for locking up. Kid Flash was definitely the fastest but not the brightest, and in an environment like a forest, odds were that he’d trip up or spend the whole day searching high and low for the man, so it was a good thing he wasn’t here or he’d run off not knowing where he was going or running into. Beast Boy had the right idea though, as a hound, he had the escaper’s scent. So they followed him into the thick growth.  
Finding him was actually harder than they thought, he had no tracker so all they could really rely upon was Superboy’s senses and Beast Boy’s ability to track as an animal, even then Connor couldn’t see past all the trees with his vision and Garfield lost his scent a few times.

“He must be in the deepest part of the forest by now,” Artemis said.

“Keep searching, if he’s going back to base this could mean finding the ones responsible for the meta-trafficking,” Nightwing ordered.

“He could be headed towards the docks, it’s the quickest and closest way out,” Robin said, it made sense and Nightwing agreed, it was the only other place that anyone could find a way to get off the island. As they got nearer to the docks, Superboy stopped all of a sudden, his teammates stopped as well.

“Superboy, what’s wrong, is-” Wondergirl began to say when he shushed her, his ears picking up whimpers and sobs and some frantic words that were to muffled for him to hear properly. But he could tell which direction.

“Over there,” he said, facing in the direction of the sound just off to the side to where the docks were, .

They followed Conner to what looked like the deepest part of the forest when he faltered and bent over looking shaken.

“What’s wrong,” Nightwing asked, checking him over with concern.

“Someone screamed and it wasn’t any scream, I mean a real scream,” Connor looked up and around, panicked, “I can’t hear him anymore.” 

With this disturbing reveal, Nightwing and Robin both took off in that direction, with the others following after Superboy had recovered. Beast Boy was in the lead again, with the scent strong this time and they ventured on before Garfield started yelping, then, the smell hit them hard, the smell of blood and urine.

“Oh my god,” Artemis let out a hoarse whisper.

Everyone stopped, their mouths hanging open in shock. The corpse lying before them was definitely their runner, but he wasn’t going to be answering questions or going anywhere but the morgue. His limbs stuck out at odd angles like he was flailing about so much they were arranged haphazardly, his uniform was ripped open and so was his throat. The chest area bore several gashes. Right arm ripped off and legs punctured. He looked like he’d been mauled by a savage animal except, no animal can make such clean cuts as the ones on his chest, the claws must have been thin, needle like. His mouth hung agape with terror and he must have been scared enough to wet himself with the darkened patch on his pants mixing with the blood that was now seeping in, staining the grey a darker shade.

“Wha- who could have done this?!” Cassie gasped. Nightwing took a tentative step forward, he’d seen bad things in Gotham but never something like this here. Something had made it’s way on the island.  
He looked back to see Robin had also followed his movement but he seemed to be on the verge of getting sick, he was too young to witness something like this. Nightwing didn’t want to baby him. Working as Robin alongside Batman meant being in the middle of things like this but still...he glanced back at the body. This was too horrible.

“You guys, go back to HQ, call Batman, tell him we’ve got an issue, possibly something worse than the crisis at hand,” he ordered the rest of the team, “Robin, look at me, I know it’s going to be hard but go back with them, take the rest of the day off.”

“But I-.”

“Listen to me, Tim, I’m not putting you off missions because I think you’re not up for it, but I’ve had something like this happen before and it isn’t something you can just shake off, take it from a guy who tried winging it,” Dick gave him a wry smile, “Go home you earned it.”

“Can’t I just stay at HQ, keep me in the loop?”

Both Nightwing and Robin looked at the tattered remains, “I don’t think it’s exactly safe there right now.”


	2. Chapter 2

Batman was waiting for them when Nightwing and a few others were finished assessing the situation and had returned to their new cave headquarters. The mountain they had once called base was demolished and smoothed over but in the process of retrieving precious components the had managed to unearth tunnels and caverns formed long ago when lava still flowed here.  
It was almost like the old one, well, technically it was, or rather an extension of the old cave.  
Batman was tapping away at the computer when they finally arrived.

“I’ve heard a lot about what happened, report.”

Aqualad, Blue Beetle looked rather ill, Nightwing wasn’t happy to have dug his hands deep into the case.   
“Nothing good,” Dick said as he produced a image storage card from one of his compartments, and slotted it into the computer then turned to the rest of the teens gathered around watching curiously, “If any of you guys just ate and don’t have the stomach for this, you might want to look away, especially you Static.”

“I think I’m cool, I’ve been working on this team for a while.”

None of them seemed to be able to look away and Nightwing raised a brow questioningly but relented, “Suit yourself.”

The series of images that popped up on the screen were...hard to digest. The first image of the dead gunman in the woods was obvious, to some but there were more, far more to come. And they got bloodier and bloodier, multiple bodies piled upon each other or strewn around warehouses, corridors, missing limbs, missing eyes, throats torn, one had his skull crushed and a few sliced cleanly in half. All merciless, and brutally killed. All in the same uniform.   
Some retching could be heard in the background, a few of the teens’ eyes had gone wide and forced to look away. Even Superboy, claiming to be fearless didn’t find it easy to be seeing this. Bart grimaced.

“We can assume that this was the base where our runner was going to and whoever, whatever got to him got here first, from what I can tell there were no survivors.”

“Oh god,” M’gann’s voice was merely a whisper.

“Have you determined who they were working for?”

“Only that the hired muscle belonged to Luthor and the whole operation was headed by Bane. The base located just a few miles off the coast was built overnight, it’s supposed to be temporary. That’s how they got so many guys to infiltrate the island. Today was supposed to be the first wave, scout and weaken we know the Light is pulling strings again and they were planning to completely take out the Young Justice.”   
“The full attack was scheduled two days from now, a whole army coming at us...there were a lot of people stationed at that base.” 

Nightwing looked visibly shaken, but he collected himself enough to give the rest of the report, “That’s all the information I was able to recover from their smaller caches, along with the shots we took of the scene but the rest of the data that was in their main computer, is gone, no messages, no videos, all taken or destroyed,” Nightwing looked grim. 

Batman narrowed his eyes and turned back to the screen, scrolling through the images stored on the memory card. The info explained only a portion of the operation but nothing on what transpired there, no indications of unusual activity, which meant that whatever happened, happened suddenly and quickly. His mind racing through a million possibilities, scenarios, potential suspects who wanted in on this operation or just to sabotage it. Joker was on the list, even if he worked with the Light before, he and they both knew he was a wild card of sorts and could turn easily on any one. But this…  
Beside him, Robin had taken a step forward analysing each photograph, the investigator inside of him pushing past his queasiness to work out all the clues and Bruce didn’t miss a single moment of that.

“Whoever did this knew what they were doing, but it wasn’t exactly planned, no, I think it all started with the runner,” Batman said.

“How can you be sure?” Aqualad questioned.

“No prior reports of related activity and in such a short time period starting, with your fight with him he’s done a lot of damage,” Batman continued before Jaime cut in.

“Wait, he?”

“Just one person?” Artemis added.

Batman gave Robin a look, body language he was trained to understand, by now, he’d analysed all that he could in those shots and was already organising them into vital information in his head, he started, “There’s blood on the floor that doesn’t match the shape of any of the men in the photos, it’s distinctly male given the size of the footprint, and it can’t be female as the toes are not narrow enough. The back of the print is narrower so the heel must be high, that alone separates it from the any one of the Lex’s men.” 

“Plus there are some distinct marks in front of each print, they look like dots but on closer inspection,” Robin zooms in on one particular print showing a print with several patterned holes in the front, “Our...killer has clawed feet.” 

“Whoa,” Bart said.

“What the hell could that be?” Static threw up his hands frustrated in the riddle talk, “Our mystery guy has clawed feet and is wearing high heels? Apart from fashion statement, is he human? Meta like us?”

Batman and Nightwing exchanged looks, everybody just looked worried.

“You’re thinking something else aren’t you.”

“Without further investigation we don’t have much to go on, but our gut instinct says the same, someone, something has made it here.”

“And whoever or whatever that is, is extremely dangerous,” Nightwing warned.

“Are you even sure it’s just the one guy?” Kon asked.

There was a pause, Batman turned to the screen, scanning the pictures of mutilated and half eaten bodies littered across it, before he answered, “With this kind of carnage, let’s hope we’re just dealing with one threat and not an army.” 

 

Meanwhile at Lex Corporations, news about the massacre had reached Luthor, and he was not amused. He sat at his desk scrolling through the reports and the images attached, articles that were published days before. He cared little about the men he hired to do his work but was no savage and seeing the aftermath of the attack, he could only conclude it was performed by one. He could put the blame on a few named psychopaths but wild guesses may not help his case. The announcement given by the Batman claimed that it was both a calculated move and a spur of the moment impulse. The So now, he had a rabid but logical killer on his hands, probably headed for him. With nothing to help identify them it could turn out to be any one person or maybe more, he’s had attempts on his life but it helps to know the suspects, Arsenal a most recent example but a missile is easy to see, easy to counter. From what Lex could tell, this one will give no warning, far too unpredictable.

“Mercy, make the call, our protective measures won’t be enough I’m afraid,” Luthor said. His bodyguard immediately took out the phone to begin dialling, “I have a call to make myself.”

 

“So, you’re saying that you’re being hunted, why am I not surprised?” Klarion smirked.

Luthor cocked an eyebrow in response to the jarring comment but continued, “If I may continue, it is but a theory, the only thing that causes doubt is the suddenness of the incident. I’d rather be safe than sorry that’s all.”

“A few dead men and you’re concerned?” the Queen mocked lightly, “How very unlike you.”

“Simply cautious my dear, unlike some,” Luthor shot back, making the woman wrinkle her nose slightly but comment no further.

“Now, now, no need for us to argue over such matters, I understand how important it is to be vigilant, Luthor. You have our support. Let’s hope this setback doesn’t last too long,” Vandal said.

“Thank you, I’ll lay low for a bit, in the meantime we should end the threat while it’s still early.”

Klarion hummed in playful doubt, “I dunno, maybe whoever this is could be fun to play with. They’ve caused quite a stir everywhere.”

“Oui, perhaps this newcomer will make a good ally,” the Brain said in his heavily accented English. Lex looked doubtful, as the Queen but both Savage and Klarion seemed open to the idea, Klarion more so with a glee in his eyes. As long as chaos was involved anything would be enough to keep the boy happy. Though the other members were uncertain, a little bit of investment could go a long way. With both Black Manta and Ra’s unavailable to comment, the majority voted on watching the newcomer first, see if there was anything he could offer and act when the moment was right. 

“Let us observe for the moment, we shall soon see if he can serve the Light.”

 

Dick let out a heavy breath as he tipped back in his chair, eyes straining from working at the computer for too long and legs, jelly and aching from standing for hours trying to piece together information the team had found while fighting the Light, while trying to pull up whatever he could on what had killed those men and what little he could find, any possible leads always went nowhere. No evidence of alien activity lately since the Reach, it was too sudden, no reported similar sightings or cases that led to their island and no motive except maybe revenge or a contract but those seemed unlikely as well, Dick couldn’t tell with so little evidence.   
He’d be lying if he said he hadn’t seen sickos do things like this before, that’s why generally, the team is told to avoid Gotham, not because Batman was possessive but because only he knew how to handle cases like this. If Dick had to be frank, they were lucky to have to deal with alien invasions and crazy robots mostly. Difficult, but easy on the mind and eyes, most of the time.  
It was too easy to underestimate how perverse the mind of a human could become and the Joker was evidence of this. But he was only one psycho in the midst of seven billion other possibilities some, probably capable of sicker methods, less efficient but as long as it was...fun. And Dick had seen too many of these since he became Robin, it made him wonder how he managed to not go insane as well. He tapped a key on the console, which brought up a new window, the camera overlooking the team’s kitchen where they were all congregating, over cake. Bart eating most of it, as usual, and Dick remembered, the reason he hadn’t tipped himself over the edge, the Young Justice, the team he, Kaldur, SuperBoy and Wally started all those years ago, disobeying orders and causing mischief, were the ones keeping him together. He had to protect them, protect what they had.  
He sighed, closing the window, great job he was doing. If only Wally was still around. If only he could go back to the way things were, he missed the way he could goof off as Robin. But people grow up and superheroes grow up even faster, lose that innocence even before they could enjoy it. That’s just how it was. The responsibility grows heavy on his shoulders.  
It was easy to underestimate how cruel and disgusting the world could be. For their sake and Tim’s, he had to protect what was left.

Suddenly, the alarms began to wail and it startled Dick so hard that he fell out of his seat, instinctively, when he picked himself up he immediately dropped into his combat stance. Already, the rest of the Young Justice were running out though half in uniform, half not in Beast Boy’s case, who managed to pull on the top half of his suit but was still in boxers. M’Gann and Cassie were still in sleepwear. 

“What’s going on?” Robin asked as soon as he reached Dick, now tapping away at the console, flicking through camera to camera.

“Not sure yet, but the perimeter sensors were tripped, we’ve got someone snooping around outside.”

“Sure it isn’t some deer or something?” Bart said earning him an elbow to the gut from Jaime.

“Course not, why would we put them there if they kept picking up animals.”

“Jaime’s right, those sensors are designed to detect intruders and suspicious activity, if they’re going crazy, there’s definitely someone out there,” Dick said, as he checked each camera, suddenly his eyes caught a fleeting shadow out of 14b, just outside the third entrance, west.

“There!” Dick turned to the team, “Alright, Robin, Superboy you guys are coming with me, everybody else, cover the exit points, make sure that whoever has trespassed doesn’t leave. We don’t have much time, let’s go.”

As Bart was the fastest, he was gone before any of the others had reached the mouth of the cave. Very soon, Robin, Nightwing and Superboy reached point 14b, right where the disturbance was picked up. Of course, there was no sign of anything but following in the direction of the shadow, they continued the pursuit.

“M’gann put us into a mind link.” Dick said through his comm.

“Already done,” came her reply.

“Kid-Flash, see anything?” Dick asked through the mental link as the three continued the chase.

“Nuh-uh, pretty dark here and all I see are trees and more trees, I must’ve run in circles about a dozen times now.”

“Keep looking, they can’t have gotten far.”

There was nearly no sound, nothing stirred, if this was an infiltration by the Light they would’ve come out by now for a fight and a large group geared to take down superheroes wouldn’t be this quiet. Dick grimaced, it could only mean one thing, that their murderer was prowling nearby. Time to change tactics.

“Listen up, I want everyone to take caution and keep a careful eye out,” he paused, “There’s a possibility that our mass killer is here. Engage from a distance if possible and pull out if you can’t beat him, I repeat, engage from afar, retreat if the threat is too much.”

Just as Nightwing was barking orders, Robin who trailed behind the two, looked to his left and noticed a glint of light, shining from the cover of bushes as they ran past. Suddenly he felt overcome with the urge to look, forgetting to notify Superboy or Nightwing, He slowed down to a stop, eyes still glued to the two little lights and began to walk towards them, all thoughts leaving him with only his overwhelming curiosity. As he got closer, he saw those two dots flicker and move, retreating further into the dark of the woods. Against all his trained instincts screaming at him, he followed them in. His legs taking him forwards until he was very much lost within the thick clumping of trees, in that exact moment, his senses returned and Tim realized he’d just broken off from the group without them knowing. He attempted to call out mentally but no one replied, his link to them broken or blocked somehow. He could feel fear slowly building up inside.

“Okay, breathe, you can do this,” he muttered to himself as he gripped his bo staff tighter, “You faced Killer Croc, Ivy, Clayface and Two-Face, you can beat this creep.”

He advanced, though he could try find his way back to the cave, but in the minutes he’d walked further on like a zombie, Tim was unsure of where his location was, and the forests surrounding HQ was, simply put, vast. With the mind link gone, he felt alone and lost. This was bad.

“Miss martian, Blue Beetle?”

No one answered as he called out loud, “Nightwing? Superboy?”

How far had he walked? This was embarrassing, getting so lost even though technically he was so close to base. And it looked like it was getting darker than night, the deafening silence surrounded him. There was no way one of them wouldn’t let him go with this, especially Gar. The thickening shadows was lowering visibility further and further that for some reason his night vision lens was becoming less effective, then without warning, they malfunctioned and he had to switch back to normal vision. This was bad, he shouldn’t have wandered forwards. Robin decided to turn on his heel and attempt to trace his steps back. The moment his back was turned, a large, roaring mass slammed into him, sending him down onto the ground with its weight pinning him there. Robin grunted and struggled, trying to unbalance whatever was crushing him. It growled in response and Robin felt its grip tightening, claws digging into his armour which must have made it through the first layer. He swallowed, sincerely hoping it was just Gar playing a stupid prank on him.

“If that’s you Beast Boy it’s not funny. Get. Off.”

Robin tried to elbow his assailant lightly, just enough to take Garfield by surprise and hopefully get him to move but when he swung, he realized that it wasn’t Beast Boy at all. Not with that growl, that look.  
He’d never seen a creature like it, a hulking, oozing beast that was more bone and spines than flesh, pus and boils covered what skin it had, and it’s teeth, oversized, filthy spikes, constantly drooling. It’s breath was reminiscent of any rotting thing Robin could remember. Nothing should be that hideous and yet here it was pinning him down and savouring the moment before it tears him apart. And all at once, he felt the terror rip through him. Thinking fast, he took out the taser and attempted to knock it out or at least stun it with a jolt. It roared and reared it’s ugly head for a moment, seemingly distracted Robin attempted to kick the beast off him but before he could wriggle away, it turned back to its prey, visibly irritated now.  
Great, he thought, that did nothing accept piss it off even more.  
Think Tim, his mind running through various scenarios, any possibilities on how to dislodge the creature. You’ve faced bigger, badder, uglies than this from invasions and mutants.   
Suddenly, Tim’s mind blanked as he watched the creature rear up, staring right into his eyes past the mask, reading him, his mind, his life and regurgitating all the negative things from the empty void. No soul, no life, not an extraterrestrial mammal built for survival. No words just things Tim could see in it’s glowing eyes, and he couldn’t look away. A deep guttural growl bellowed from it, the creature now bearing all its rotten teeth, black oozing from its jaws. It seemed to be laughing, he couldn’t tell through the fear that was now bubbling through. This thing was playing, a mortal toy in its grasp and it knew nothing Tim or anyone could do would stop it. Suddenly, he couldn’t help but wonder, if he’d see Jason.  
He wanted to shut his eyes tight but he couldn’t, that thing was holding his gaze, all he could do was hope for a quick end.  
The teeth and pain never came. Instead, he heard a distinct hissing followed by something far quicker than the eye colliding with the monster. Caught off guard it bellowed with a deafening roar and was launched away, and then, Tim couldn’t feel it pinning him down anymore.   
He propped himself up feeling the weightlessness again, almost lost in relief before his eyes blinked in the dark, seeing two glowing eyes not looking at him but past him. He still couldn’t move, something was nagging the back of his mind, his comms but his hands weren’t listening.

“Did you really think I would be fool enough to assume you and your damned ken wouldn’t follow me here? You think little of me.”

A figure emerged slowly from the shadows, glowing blue eyes stared down yellow ones. A young man maybe only a few years older than Tim, dressed in all black in what looked like a dress shirt and pants, grinning like a devil, he was oddly...attractive. Which was an alarming thought to have for someone who literally just walked out from nowhere, but unable to help feeling himself drawn to the stranger. If it weren’t for the blaring danger that he’d been trained to be aware of, he’d have forgotten entirely about the multi-legged slime monster growling from in front of him.  
He looked to and back from them both as they continued their little stare down. The man didn’t seem to have acknowledged his presence and the monster, he hoped, had temporarily forgotten about him.

“You,” it growled, oh, it talks, “I could smell you coming.”

The young man gave a dark chuckle, “Flattering, seeing how you chased me around I take it that you like it?”

“We will have you, your kind won’t hear you scream here,” the demonic hound growled, leaning back on its haunches.

“I think you will find I can fend for myself, mutt.”

At that, it launched itself with a screech at him, with Tim only just managing to scramble away. The stranger not missing one moment, reached behind him and brought that hand back around, a long weapon in his grip. The shaft slammed hard enough into the creature to hear a squelch and crack of what Tim could assume was bone and something else. He didn’t really want to think about what it was made of. The weapon was completely materialized by the time the monster had stumbled back on its feet. It resembled a bo staff like Tim’s except it was black, not painted, black like obsidian or onyx. Was it possible for a weapon to be completely forged out of a mineral? Attached at the end was a weighted blade, curved and warped, a series of sharp edges wrapped around a crescent.

“Now, depending on you answer, I can make this quick or you can make this enjoyable for me.” he said, whirling the staff in hand, “Where is he?”

The creature answered with a roar and pounced again, jaws gnashing. The strange took a step back and before it could come crashing down on him, he brought his knee back and up into the its gut. It howled and crumbled into a trembling heap, snapping at nothing. Tim watched as the stranger strode up to it, crouching just a couple of feet away.

“I’ll ask you again, where is Reavus?”

A low, wet sound rumbled from the creature, it took a moment for Tim to realize it was laughing. The young man instead of looking frustrated or even slightly offended, smiled. A smile disturbingly beautiful in this current moment. Before he took the creatures head, slowly and carefully twisting it off. Tim gaped in shock and horror, watching as the young man examined the head like it was an interesting object. Reaching inside and pulling out some kind of red matter. Tim couldn’t hold it in anymore and threw up.

“Well, I didn’t expect you to enjoy the sight but you have quite a weak stomach for a Gothamite.”

At that, Tim looked up in surprise, “How-?”

He attempted to scramble to his feet.

“I wouldn’t move yet, you’ve been caught in his curse,” the stranger took a step towards him, his hand reaching towards Tim, “This won’t hurt.”

“Tim!”

Suddenly, the sound of Dick’s voice calling his name brought him back to reality, he’s still on Mount Justice island, still alive. A sharp hiss like a snake brought his attention back to the stranger, his face pulled into a look of irritation. As backed up into the shadows again, his eyes turned back to Tim, giving a knowing nod and vanished. It seemed he didn’t plan on sticking around for them to question him. Tim wanted to call out, ask him to wait. Just as soon as the thought materialized, it vanished along with the stranger’s presence and his mind went blank.

Dick arrived in time to see Tim collapse back, slouching limply in a sitting position and just in time for his sharp eyes to catch part of a figure, disappear into the shadows. But his attention focused on Tim. H knelt by the boy, removing the mask.

“Hey, hey, you okay? What happened, are you hurt?”

Tim was unresponsive, numbly staring up at Nightwing’s eyes and occasionally glancing back at the mutilated monster and the space where the figure was only moments ago. Dick caught the look and followed his gaze behind him.

“Shit!” he cursed under his breath. He finally took the black mass in all its horrible detail, there’s nothing natural about it, things in places that didn’t make sense. Flesh that wasn’t really flesh at least not one kind of flesh, torn out and realized, this creature wasn’t built for survival, it was built to kill, built for fear. If the things Zatanna had told him about magic were true, he was looking at a good example of the bad kind.  
He checked Tim all over for any signs of injury, knowing these types they probably carried venom or worse in their bodies. Dick sighed in relief, luckily, Tim seemed fine on the outside but his eyes still stared blankly ahead, as if his mind had shut down. He had no way of helping him here, at least not out here while it was dark. They’d have to deal with any traumatic stress back at base.  
Sounds of leaves rustling and feet running approached and the other heroes finally caught up. Bart came to a skidding stop as he closed in on the scene, his eyes taking in the creature lying in a pool of its own blood. He replaced the mask over Tim’s eyes.

“Robin!” Connor ran up to the two, eyes widening in shock, “What the hell happened?!”

“He was attacked,” Nightwing stated bluntly, reaching into his belt.

“Yeah, I can tell! I want to know what the hell is that thing?” Connor’s voice was close to yelling his lungs out as he pointed one angry finger at the bloody mass. Which Bart was now toeing cautiously, then retreating with a shudder.

“Oh man, that’s nasty.”

“I don’t know, okay? Not exactly,” Nightwing took a swab of the substance that coated the Robin uniform, analysing it, he narrowed his eyes, “But I’ve got a gut feeling that says I need to talk to Zatanna.”

Superboy calmed down as his face settled into worry, he seemed to understand what that meant. Nightwing pocketed the sample and lifted Tim up, whispering something barely audible to the others. Tim finally nodded, blinking a few times and muttered something back, he dug the heel of his palm into his eyes.

“Is he alright?” M’gann asked, tentatively resting her hand on Tim’s shoulder, “Do I need to...take a look?”

“Not right now, let’s go back. We’ll let him rest then we can find out what happened here.”

Suddenly, something further into the distance caught his Dick’s eye. A small light, blue and shining in under the dark of the trees. He could be sure that it wasn’t there before when they passed. He paused for a moment, staring, a moment too long. Superboy’s voice snapped him back to the present.

“Here I’ll take him back,” Connor offered. Nightwing handed Tim over gratefully. The boy hung limp in Connor’s arms. He and watched for a moment while they flew away. 

“Beast boy, Kid-Flash, M’gann come with me and M’gann, tell everyone you have on the telepathic network to return to base and stay there.”

When he looked, the light was gone but he had its approximate location, though the distance was uncertain.  
Nightwing led the group on. But was silent, no orders, no comments, just an unsettling silence even for him. M’gann watched him with concern. She could read his mind, know what he is thinking and it could help her act appropriately but he’d no straight away she used telepathy, that would be rude. She hung back a bit before deciding to speak up.

“You must be really worried, for Robin I mean. After what happened...last time, you must be terrified for him.”

Nightwing sighed, “I am, I don’t know what happened exactly, or what that thing is. But it could’ve killed him I’m sure of it. I got samples but I have a feeling it won’t answer our questions. Especially who got to him before us,” Nighwing paused, hands clenched, “M’gann, I wasn’t there, I didn’t save him. Someone did but I didn’t get there in time. If it weren’t for, I don’t know who, that thing could’ve torn him apart and I still wouldn’t make it there, to save him. Just like I couldn’t, for him”

The martian put her hand on Dick’s shoulder, “You’ve got to stop blaming yourself, you can’t be everywhere at once. I’m at fault too for not noticing. Compared to you, a lot of us have failed a lot more. I don’t want anything like last time to happen again either but blaming yourself, won’t help. We don’t even know what we’re up against.”

“Shouldn’t we?” Nightwing said a little to harshly. M’gann flinched, hurt.

“I’m sorry, you’re right, I’m letting it get to me. I just can’t be helpless, I can’t fail and lose my friends again.”

M’gann flung her arms around him, “Me too.”

“Hey guys, what’s that?” Garfield said, pointing a finger up ahead. It was the shining object again, it certainly was farther than Dick had expected, but it seemed no more and no less brighter.

“That’s what I saw earlier, could be a clue.”

“Or could be more of those things, eugh, I really don’t want to see those monster dogs up close and ready to eat us.”

As they walked towards the glowing object, the air seemed to change. A presence that pervaded all around them now, it was heavy and empty at the same time. For Dick, it almost felt like the time he walked through the cemetery at night to see his parents, an oppressive atmosphere that left him feeling empty and cold and frightened. He forced the sensation down and glanced at the rest of the team. Both Kid-Flash and Beast Boy looked twitchy, something that nagged at their every instinct while M’gann was beginning to falter, hovering closer and closer to the ground, he face scrunched up in discomfort or pain.

“Are you guys okay?”

“Don’t feel so good,” Gar said, his tone on the edge of queasiness.

“Me neither,” Bart added wobbly.

Garfield suddenly shifted into gorilla form, letting out a frustrated roar and beating his chest. For a moment, he almost seemed unable to recognise any of them, fearing an attack. Dick stepped up in front of him.

“Beast boy! Stop, hey it’s me,” he said, holding out both hands trying to calm down the disorientated shifter. Bart, wobbly on his feet had to lay down. Beast boy looked uncertainly at him, at Nightwing and M’gann who now hovered unstably above, then back at Nightwing.

“Easy there. You still with me?” 

Gar nodded, finally speaking, “Yeah, yeah, sorry, just something messing with me.” 

Whatever the glowing thing was, it was seemed to be affecting all but Dick.   
M’gann not much later couldn’t hold herself in the air anymore. She drifted just a few inches above the ground before landing unsteadily on her feet, stumbling towards Dick. He caught her just as she was about to fall, visibly in pain.

“Something is interfering with my psychic powers, it’s messing with my mind. Nightwing...”

“Stay here, don’t come any closer, okay, stay right here all of you,” he said as he gave her over to a gorilla beast boy. The object still glowed brightly but with how it was messing with all their powers, he left the rest behind. He could feel something but if anything, it was more like pressure, like someone had put him in a pressure chamber and turned it up to eight. His legs felt like they were slogging through marsh but nothing more.  
When he finally walked right up to the little dot of light, it dimmed considerably. Now he could see what it was. A small stone, crystal. Blue, somewhere between a sky and deep sea. He reached down hesitantly, tapped at it. No shocks or pain, so he picked up the crystal. It fit into the palm of his hand surprisingly no bigger than a pebble when it was shining so brightly only moments ago.

He turned it over, examining it, “What is this?”

“Nightwing!” he turned to see the other three making their way towards him, visibly disturbed but no longer in pain or discomfort. 

“You guys okay?”

“Yeah, whatever was messing with our powers, it’s gone now,” M’gann said.

“I think it’s this,” Nightwing held up the stone had completely stopped glowing, turning into a deep midnight color, the surface was smooth as a gem and it felt like one to. If reflected light like a crystal normally would, he would’ve thought it was some kind of gem, like the one Klarion used before in his ritual. It was shaped like an opal. Truly like a pebble, if it wasn’t glowing, he would’ve missed it. The other’s looked curiously at it too. He observed how they seemed to be perfectly at ease now around it, now that it had stopped emitting that strange light.

“Are you feeling alright?”

“Yeah, we’re fine now,” M’gann said.

“Still a bit off from feeling the mode but all good.”

“Kinda weird though, I swear something was making me to go full ape, literally. Like it was talking to my instincts, that sound weird even in my head.”

The now dormant object had lost all of the oppressive aura from earlier, slightly cold to the touch almost too cold. M’gann used her telekinesis to hold the object aloft. It didn’t react.

“Whatever it is, it seems to have stopped for now. Let’s go back, I need to see what it is and where it came from.”


	3. Chapter 3

The first thing they did was call Doctor Fate, and Billy just in case, Zatanna was also present as she continued to watch fate with a longing expression. No matter what she did or who she consulted, her attempts to free her father still came to nought. A hand on her shoulder startled her out of her solemnity and she turned to see Dick, giving her a sympathetic look, she nods apologetically and returns to focus on the stone. It spun harmlessly in the air as Fate hovered, cross-legged, concentrating on the object. Examining it. 

“Anything?” Batman asked. Doctor Fate leaves his trance.

“I know of this, it belongs to the ones who I have not seen for many..lifetimes.”

“What,” Nightwing asks.

“Venerlath. Keepsakes of the Hyeshath.”

“Whoa, sounds wicked weird,” Gar said, jumping and hopping around at a safe distance from the glowing, floating thing.

“Them?!” Zatanna exclaims in surprise, she looks shocked and worried at the same time.

“Do you know about them?”

“Y-yeah, kind of, my father taught me about all sorts of things to do with magic, he used to tell me stories about the dark ones. Warriors in black armor with the ability to travel freely through worlds beyond ours.”  
“They are also pretty dark, if, that wasn’t already obvious.”

Doctor Fate cuts in, “They are dangerous and tireless. Throughout the history of mankind, there have been recollections of a black army sweeping across cities, wiping them from existence in a single night. 

Doctor Fate turns, magic energy swirling from his hand to form an image, no many images of depictions of battle, etched into stone, gruesome battles. Tapestries depicting them as demons displayed in halls of royalty. It painted a terrible picture of these people, monsters to be feared. 

“But...” Fate paused, hesistant, which was a first for him, “Even as a Lord of Order, I do not know much more than what I have given, they are secretive as a people, and nearly impossible to find. Doctor Fate seemed reluctanct to admit it but he did not know everything, especially other worlders.

“They certainly look scary,” M’Gann commented.

But as the images flickered from one to another, fleeting but impressionable scenes of people praying to these figures in black, even having some had effigies erected in their name.

“Wait, what is that? Are those people, worshipping them?” Robin pointed out.

It seemed they were. Dressed in rags, these people bowed and kneeled before statues some dark as coal, carved from black rock, others made of stone or even marble. They whispered strange words even Bruce who has had training in nearly every language and their derivitaves couldn’t recognize. Alien. Their voices hissing incoherently as they clutched flowers of unknown origins or stones, glowing blue stones just like the one the Young Justice had in their possession.

Batman frowned even further. He’s had run-ins with cults before but they have never been good. If these outsiders were as dangerous as Fate described them and if it’s Fate telling the story, then they definitely had a reason to worry. But he had a feeling there was much more to this than it looked, for one, the attack on Robin was indesputable, those creature were also a great concern with how one had nearly cost him Tim as well. But they didn’t seem allied with these...dark ones, if what Tim had told him was right. In fact, if the young man that saved him was indeed one of them, then there may be much more to them than what is written in historical depictions.

“We need to find out more about them before we try to engage them.” 

“Then, they’re just common criminals, we can take ‘em down,” Superboy said, seemingly unfazed.

Zatanna put a calm hand on Superboy’s shoulder, but she her face betrayed her worry, “I don’t know much about them but they don’t look like the kind of people we can just slap a warning on to, we need to know how many there are and why they’re here and how we can actually stop them.”

From what they’ve already found, it was clear that she is right.

Batman stared at the glowing crystal for a few moments before continuing, “This isn’t child’s play, something is going on and we need to be careful.”

He took a step closer to the crystal, watching as it seemed to react to his sudden proximity. No one spoke while they waited for Bruce to say more. He turned to Doctor Fate, “You said that this thing is a keepsake,” Fate nodded in affirmation, “And from what we saw, it was also used by those people.”

Batman had turned to face the group gathered, pondering the information before stealing another glance at the stone, he then turned to Zatanna, “Do you think we can use this to contact them?”

Everyone gawped at that in shock, too stunned to react right away, except for Nightwing who immediately said, “Wait, contact?”

“Yes, Zatanna, Fate, do you think you have what you need to facilitate a communication to them?”

Zatanna looked unsure, Fate, was unscrutable beneath the helmet but he didn’t seem bothered.

“We don’t know how this works Batman, nothing like this has ever been done before,” Zatanna said.  
“I don’t think that’s the case, how those people did it, I think they were connecting with them, we just need to find out how.”

Zatanna glanced at Doctor Fate, just remembering that it wasn’t really her father, just an entity wearing his body. Nabu seemed to have agreed with Batman though.

“I will consult with the others, perhaps one of them may know the ritual.”

She sighed, “I think I know one person who may be more familiar with the occult, you’re not going to like him though.”

Batman turned to her, “It’s him.”

She nodded. 

“Alright, whatever you can do.”

Later, the group disbanded with the Young Justice members either retiring to their rooms or talking amongst themselves and any Justice League member present left to go back to the League Tower, Batman stayed behind, stopping Tim as he was about to go back to his own room. He caught his arm light but firm enough to mean business. Tim almost thought for a second that he was going to get reprimanded for getting himself in trouble, he couldn’t tell when Bruce had the cowl on. But he wasn’t speaking in his Batman voice.

“Tim, how are you feeling?”

“I-I’m fine, really, I’m not hurt.”

Batman made a doubtful sound, “I don’t think so, not after what happened.” 

Tim glanced around, skittish with the attention. He knows this mode when Bruce goes into protective Dad mode. He was pulled closer into a firm hug to his surprise, he could feel the concern, no, fear radiating slightly from Bruce’s powerful form. Tim’s eyes widened.

“I know you’re scared,” Bruce said quietly under his breath, “I am too, I almost lost you tonight.”

Tim felt the warmth in those words, things he’d want to hear from his father but he gets it from Bruce instead. Thankfully no one was around by then to see Batman acting awkwardly, it was still embarrassing.

Tim at last let’s his guard down and the tension melts from his shoulders, his arms went up and wrapped around Bruce and gave a light squeeze back, “It’s going to be okay, I’ll be fine.”  
For a moment they shared the fear, the relief and love, father and son. They set aside the false personas, and for once, Bruce wasn’t an emotionless machine. They shared a quiet moment together, without another soul in the background and the crystal whirring low in the room, casting a soft blue light.

 

“That’s crazy Bruce, didn’t you hear a thing back in Mount Justice? Those people are dangerous, we don’t know what could happen.”

 

“Two things happened tonight, something had made it’s way onto the island tonight and nearly got Robin, and something or someone saved him. I have grounds to believe that they aren’t unreasonable and closed to talking, more we get out of them, the more we know,” Batman said.

Dick paced around the cave angrily and getting angrier by the second, “And we still have the meta-human trafficking to worry about, that’s not something we can just put aside to deal with another time!”

“We aren’t putting it aside Dick, but we can’t ignore what happened. I know, the photos were there and it’s impacted both us and the trafficking operations. We need to find out whether this is something we have to stop on top of the meta-human trafficking or this can help us.”

This whole thing felt wrong, like they were stepping into bad territory. Fate and Zatanna seemed to know quite a bit about it so it is for sure, in the realms of magic and such, but even they didn’t know enough. That had bad vibes all over it. If they didn’t already have their hands full, Dick would be all for investigating but they were stretched thin and Bruce was going to send them diving into this. 

“You know we don’t have the manpower to deal with both, B, numbers is turning into a real problem and the meta-human trafficking hasn’t gotten any less. If something happens, IF this turns out to be a real problem, we could all be in trouble.”

“I’m aware of that Dick, but ignoring it doesn’t make it any less of a potential threat. We don’t know anything about this...group and we certainly don’t know what they’re up to. If they are truly a problem then they’ll be a danger with or without intervention.”

Dick scowled, having a stare down with Batman was among his least favorite things but it was so infuriating having to go along with his ideas sometimes, and how close he was to becoming the same person. In the end though, with the damn crystal still glowing like a lamp doing who knows what, Bruce was right, take it or leave it, this wasn’t a situation they could bury their heads from and hope it wouldn’t come back to bite them.

“Fine, but the moment it gets out of hand, you’re going to have to fix it.”

Dick walked over to the glowing stone, pondering long and hard about it. This isn’t the first time they had run-ins with situations with little to no intel, that part was fine, if they looked hard enough there would always be information out there in some database that he or Tim could hack. But this was more on the mystical lines and if neither Fate nor Zatanna could make heads or tails out of it, this case was a good as dead in the water. But they had the crystal, even with all the mystery wrapped around it, it was still a lead, somehow.  
He paced in front of it shooting glances at it every no and then. Bruce stood still as a statue, watching it as well, no doubt lost in his own thought process.

“This can’t be the only thing we have from them,” Dick said, this may have been their first find but it won’t be enough, they needed more evidence, more pointers if they were going to have a chance at locating or communicating with these elusive figures.

“We can’t waste time on this, if we want a shot at talking to them, we need a solid lead.”

There’s always a link in there, something that old and ancient as Fate described tend to have in common, what was the one thing old societies or groups tended to do that leaves a mark in the world, and they were both staring at one.

“Fate had a whole record of carvings and paintings about them, he says they’re lost or destroyed but they can’t be the only things related to them.”

Batman finished that train of thought.

“They must have left a piece of themselves behind, something that would have been picked up and forgotten as history if they go back as far as Doctor Fate says they do,” Batman said finally. Dick stopped pacing and turned to Batman, he was just having the same thoughts as well.  
“If they left behind something that belonged to them then more than likely it would’ve been found, and they always put archeological find in one particular place, museums!”   
He strode over to the computer and looked through the network of info.

“Think you can ask Doctor Fate one more time to look into this while Zatanna is calling on a few favors?”

“It won’t be a problem,” Batman says before he gives a tiny grin, He’s more interested in this than he let’s on.”

Dick turns around with a big crooked smile, “You noticed too, huh?”

Batman is already headed over to the boom-tube, getting ready to transport back to the League Tower, he glanced over his shoulder, “We’re too good at reading people to not notice.”

Then he was gone in a flash of light.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've come to realize that the tags and conditions of this story has changed again, and it's becoming more complicated of a project than I expected, if you came for the description, there's a real chance that it may be something completely different from expectations. I'm sorry.

In another world...

Jason thought staring at a grave was easy, he’s stared at his own one for hour and hours at a time when he had nothing to do and too much time for a dead man walking. But he’d never imagined that staring at someone else’s grave, knowing that they won’t ever get up, would be this hard. And he’ll never get over standing in front of Bruce’s gravestone, and Dick’s and the Demon Brat’s. Damian’s was situated beside Bruce’s while Dicks was plopped right in the middle between his parents. There was a hell of a discussion on where he’d like to go, somewhere deep down though, Jason was sure he’d want to be beside Bruce, where’s he’s been for most of his life.  
He sat there in the lonely solitude of Gotham Cemetary. Bruce’s statue will probably go up, along with Superman, Flash and all the heroes that had died that night. It still haunts him, seeing Tim there, blood on his face and smiling like a madman.  
The teeth, the claws, the horrible look in his eyes, devoid of all humanity. Jason watched as he slaughtered them, the league members, the Teen Titans like they were nothing, too easy, too effortless. Ra’s watched in the background as his newest creation, his convert proved more powerful than he could dream of.  
Jason nearly retched as he sat in the bloody mess, watching that hideous old man’s, now revealed as an ancient demon, roam all over Tim like they were…

“Urgh,” Jason was about to be sick again. He shouldn’t have left him alone, shouldn’t have let his pride get in the way of patching their relationship. He should’ve told Tim from the beginning, how he really felt. Screw how weird it sounded, how wrong it sounded in his head. He’d come to love Tim because of Tim. But instead, he let it come out as a string of hate instead. Typical, the look in Tim’s eyes said, of course he still hated me, even though Jason’s heart was screaming no no no, that’s not true, but he said nothing and watched as the young man flee.

He should have followed that night, maybe if he did, Ra’s wouldn’t get his hands on him. But now, it had come to this, staring at the graves of his heroes, his mentor and father, his brothers dead and Tim out there somewhere. Jason doesn’t know what happened after Tim has come to his sense that night, only that for a brief moment, he was Tim again until he looked around and saw the corpses of their fallen heroes, and then the blood on his hands. Then the terrible shriek, an inhuman sound that Jason can still hear in his nightmares when Tim realized why their blood was on his hands.   
Jason knows he out there, probably trying to kill himself or atone or maybe both, knowing him. He wants to bring him home, but he doesn’t know how to find him.

“Fuck!” he yells in rage, at himself, at the world. He’s never felt so helpless before since Joker killed him. 

“This is it, huh?” Jason laughs bitterly, “This is how you felt when you were standing in front of my grave, trying to bring me home?”

If the helplessness and pain was what Bruce felt when he’d tried getting Jason to come back, then he’s got to give it to him, the man knew how to control his emotions real well because he’s having a hard time not crying right now.

Jason gazed up at the night sky so tears wouldn’t start flowing, and his mind wandered. Where Tim could be, he had to be out there somewhere. Alone and god knows what, after that night, with newfound powers he must have been scared and lonely. Jason really hoped he wasn’t attempting to end himself. With that kind of trauma, Jason would feel that way as well, but he wouldn’t let Tim go there, not before he knocked some sense into the boy and told him how he really felt. To finally tell him he loved him.

The tears fell anyway.

“It would’ve saved you both a lot of trouble if you were more honest.”

Jason cursed as the voice startles him and he bolts upright, wiping roughly at his face hoping whoever was talking to him didn’t witness his wimpy moment. He turns to see a woman, asian probably Japanese or Korean by blood staring down at him, leaning comfortably against a giant monument. Jason scrambled for whatever language trainiing he got as a bat, realizing he had not the aptitude for languages in the first place.

“Would have saved a lot of people a lot of trouble,” her English was perfect, startlingly enough. She stood up straight, smoothing out her outfit, completely devoid of color, dark top with too many straps all over it and matching black leather pants that were tucked into ankle boots. She wore a distinct strap around her thigh that had a bright blue stone embedded in the front. She could be a ninja, she’d blend perfectly in the shadows if it weren’t for that glowing stone, given that she’d already snuck up on Jason, she must be skilled in obfuscation.  
The idea already popped into Jason’s mind as he reached for his guns.

“Who the hell are you?”

She raised her hands in a gesture of non-hostility, “Relax, if this is how you greet people no wonder he had a hard time trusting you at the start.”

“Him?”

“Tiamat...well, Tim.”

At the mention of the Robin’s name, Jason immediately bristled, pointedly shoving his gun towards the woman, “What the hell have you done to him?”

“Nothing, Jason, put it down before I decide to reconsider my offer of bringing you along to find him.”

Jason was too stunned to reply, his gun still aloft but not quite pointing at he face now, this was too sudden and too important that his brain just fizzled out for a moment.

“I’m offering because we know your connection with him, and right now, we have a bit of a problem as well.”

Jason bolted to his feet and made to grab the woman. She didn’t move or resist as he wrapped his hand around her measly neck. He trained under the Bat, he knows where to press and how much pressure to apply to knock someone out but he merely keeps a firm grip, not that she’s trying to escape. The pitiful smile she gives Jason makes him feel like he’s the vulnerable one. 

“Where is he?”

The woman sighs, “I don’t know. We lost contact with him only a few months ago, before he suddenly he went silent, one of ours was with him very recently before he disappeared.”

“Disappeared?”

A beat passed before she answered,“He...it’s complicated.”

“Try me.” 

“Not here.”

Jason growled but didn’t say any more, realizing that he can try to hurt her but his techniques may not work on someone like her, he lets go of her neck.

“If I find out that you’re fucking around with me, I don’t care who or what you are, I won’t even think twice about putting a bullet in your head.” 

She grins, unfazed by the threat with her hands up in the air in a half-hearted submission, “Wouldn’t even consider it.”

She walks away and doesn’t wait for Jason as he gathers up his stuff he’s left on the grave dirt in front of Bruce’s spot. It irritates him as he spots the wisp of dark hair fluttering out of sight. Oh she was definitely messing with him, Jason thought, that smug bitch. He stuggled chasing after her.

“Hey,” he went down past the crumbling mausoleum where he’d seen her go, further in than he’d expected. She can’t have gotten that far already.

“Hey, hey you! Lady!”

“Hasn’t anyone taught you manners,” she say as he tracks her down into a clearing, a stone angel surrounded by headstones, “My name’s not ‘Hey, you’,” she turns over he shoulder.

“It’s Kaen.”

She began to chant, words that were nothing Jason could recognise. As he looked at the surrounding circle, he noticed that the headstones were all blank. Arranged in a neat circle around the angel like markers. The angel itself was looking up, hands outstretched toward the moon at this angle. He’d been here a few times but he’d never noticed or thought much about this until now, when the whole thing looked sinister with the girl chanting before it. Then as her voice began to pick up, the whole circle seemed to come alive, patterns that swirled around them right underneath Jason’s feet. He realized he couldn’t run if he wanted to, his boot were planted, no nearly fused to the ground where he stood.  
The headstones that were blank were no longer, strange ‘runes’ that were invisible to the eye, engraved into the surface now lit up with a brilliant indigo light. Impressive as the whole display was, it was also unnerving and alien, or supernatural. Jason would call Zatanna if he could.  
Suddenly, the ground opened up beneath them and he found himself in sudden freefall and all Jason could think was, this better not be some human sacrifice thing, I’m not dying again to something stupid.


End file.
